Two days. Two days of emotional torture. Draco was sure that he would go crazy if this continued.
He had a twin. Somehow, the fact had settled in very easily, although Draco didn't want to believe it. His parents had hid it from him all these years.
But why? Why would they want to hide the fact that he had a brother? Why would they have given him up in the first place?
Draco wanted answers. So that's where he was heading right now. Since his mother was out of the country, he was going to pay a visit to his father.
Draco sat rigidly as the guards went to fetch Lucius. When they brought him in, he was considerably shocked when he saw the state of his father; his face had lost all its colour and pride.
"Hello Draco" Lucius greeted his son. His voice was hoarse from the lack of use. "How have you been?"
"Manners even behind the bars, huh?" Draco said bitterly.
"That's how the Malfoys were raised, son." His father replied.
"Were Malfoys also raised to conceal things from their own family too?" Draco asked in a cutting voice.
"When the situation arrived, yes" Lucius took his time in answering. "Is there something particular that you want, Draco?"
Draco steadied himself before replying. "How about the fact that I wasn't aware that I had a brother?"
It seemed impossible, but his father's face paler than before upon hearing those words.
"How do you know about that?" Lucius asked sharply. "Narcissa and I swore that we would never speak of it."
"So you were planning on keeping it a secret for my whole life?" the bitterness in his tone was not mistaken.
Neither of them spoke about it for a couple of minutes. Lucius broke the silence-
"As you know now, I might as well say the truth." His eyes turned distant. "We were so happy that we were going to be blessed with twins. It was the first time in the Malfoy line. But alas, fate had different times. Your mother's health slowly worsened. She was nearly on her deathbed before she went into labor."
"So I went to the Dark Lord, seeking a solution. He asked for something in exchange. I was desperate. I did not give a second thought before agreeing."
Lucius' face was lost in the memories. "Miraculously, Narcissa recovered. She gave birth to two healthy baby boys- Draco and Leo. I was the happiest man in the world."
His face darkened. "Then the Dark Lord arrived. He reminded me of our deal, and asked for my second son in exchange for letting Narcissa live."
"I was devastated. But I had no choice. So I had to give up Leo" Lucius finished.
"You couldn't even for your family" Draco began, his voice rising, "You couldn't even fight for what was yours."
"It was a deal, Draco" Lucius began to stand up.
"Then you should have broken it!" Draco nearly screamed and walked out of the room, unable to bear it any longer.
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Three days later….
Susan Bones arrived in his study room an hour ago and called for an emergency meeting. Surprisingly, Granger arrived seconds later, followed by Blaise. The rest of the people slowly arrived.
"So what's this meeting about?" George asked.
"I have found something that I thing might be useful" Susan spoke up. "It's classified information, but I thought it was really important, so I brought it here."
"What's it?" Harry asked curiously.
"It's in this book" Susan said, pulling out the book. "It speaks about a ritual in the Death Chamber."
"In the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Yes" Susan confirmed opening the book. "The ritual here, if properly performed, will send a soul from the Other Side with a jar. The jar is not specified here, but there's a high possibility that it might be a Neodora, or even Pandora's Jar."
"But wouldn't sending a dead soul back to the living upset the balance of life?" Lord Flamel asked thoughtfully.
"Um, well" Susan gulped "The ritual says that someone from this side must go to the Other Side as well."
"Are you saying that somebody must be sacrificed?" Pansy asked angrily.
"In a way. It can't be done if the person is unwilling" Susan tried to explain.
"But it's still a human sacrifice." Ernie insisted. "We can't do it."
"We'll think of a way around the human sacrifice part" Jasmine said. "We've still got time."
"Actually" Susan began in a very small voice at the others' raised voices, "It has to be done during Winter Solstice only."
"The longest night" Blaise sighed.
"That's still a month away" Luna chirped in. "We mustn't lose hope, you know."
"Only a month away" Rosaline said. "What if we can't find a solution?"
"Then we're not trying it" Draco said.
"But we have to find a way" Padma said. "No one would ever hide an ordinary jar with that powerful enchantments. It has to be one of the jars."
"As Luna said, we mustn't lose hope" Hermione said. Bloody optimist, Draco thought. "We'll find a way."
As the group was discussing their plans, they were not aware of a figure lurking in the hallway and hearing their every word, nor did they know when the figure left.
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Hello lovely people
Wish you a happy new year 2020! Hope all your dreams come true and enjoy this year...
Updates will slow down till March so hang in there a bit.
Thank you to everyone who support my stories. You mean a lot to me.
Till next time, Sayonara.